After going down to the Little Lehigh with my newly constructed Stream Screen, I thought it would be a good time to tie the flies that were captured. Today I’ll start with the Caddis Larva. This is one of the most important/used flies in my fly box. It never fails to produce trout for me and the great thing about it is that it is soooo easy to tie.

The materials that we’ll use are:

Hooks: Tiemco 5263 size 12 or equivalent. This is a 3xL nymph/streamer hook. Don’t get hung up on the exact hook. I also tie this pattern with a Mustad Caddis Curved C49S and a Orvis 1510 curved nymph hook. Experimenting is part of the fun of tying flies. These caddis larva typically run in the 12-16 hook size in my area.

Body: Orvis Light Olive Spectrablend fur dubbing.

Head: Ligas Black Ultra Natural dubbing material.

Thread: D.H. Thompson Monobond Black 6/0. I love this stuff. It is strong enough to tie deer hair yet lays flat on the hook.

The first step is to tie in the thread about half way back from the eye. Wind it back to the curve at the end of the shank.

Put some dubbing wax on the thread (I’m using Wapsi). Spin a tight noodle of the light olive dubbing onto the thread. Wind the noodle up the shank and stop about 15% away from the hook eye. Make sure you keep the body tight.

Now spin another tight noodle onto the thread onto the thread with the black dubbing. Wind this up to the hook eye.

Now whip finish the head and put on a drop of head cement.

Your done! This is the easiest fly to create, but it is one of the most consistent performers. In my next tying article we’ll tie the scud pattern. Good luck!